Daily News

February 22, 2006

Two graduates of McMaster University have been named to key positions in Stephen Harper's new government. Kevin Lynch (PhD '80) was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council yesterday. Lynch, who studied economics at McMaster, was former deputy minister in the Department of Finance and executive director for Canada at the International Monetary Fund. He takes up his new position on March 6. Sandra Buckler (BA '95) is Harper's new director of communications. A native of Hamilton, Buckler previously worked as a lobbyist for De Beers Canada, Rogers Wireless, and Coca-Cola, and as communications advisor to Preston Manning, Kim Campbell and Tom Long. She has been a long-time strategist in Conservative backrooms at both the federal and provincial level.

February 21, 2006

Deborah J. Cook, MD, has received the American College of Critical Care Medicine's (ACCM) highest honor, the 2006 Distinguished Investigator Award. The award honors a clinical researcher for meritorious and pioneering research in critical care and for significantly contributing to the understanding of diseases and treatments of critically ill and injured patients. A well-known scientific researcher, "Dr. Cook's research focused on the risk factors for critical illness, prevention of ICU-acquired illness and complications, life support technology, ethics and end-of-life choices for critically ill patients," said Stephen Pastores, MD, who nominated Cook for the award.

February 21, 2006

McMaster's third annual "Brain Bee" will be held this afternoon, (Tuesday, Feb.21). The "Brain Bee" is open to all Hamilton and surrounding area high school students in grades 9 to 12 and this year, there will be more high school students visiting McMaster to compete in it than ever before. The "Brain Bee" competition is modeled after a spelling bee, with students taking turns answering questions about the brain and neuroscience on topics such as intelligence, memory, emotions, movement, stress, aging and sleep. All questions and answers for the local competition will be selected from a single document, a 65-page primer on the brain and nervous system, published by the Society for Neurosciences(available for free download online).

February 21, 2006

McMaster alumna Margot Page '87 had a front row seat for the Olympic gold medal win by the Canadian women' hockey team yesterday, as she is an assistant coach with the team. Page, who graduated with a bachelor of physical education degree in 1987, has spent the last year in Calgary working with the national team. A native of Stoney Creek, she was an Honour M award winner and female athlete of the year award winner while at McMaster and was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame.

February 21, 2006

McMaster's Department of English & Cultural Studies is pleased to welcome fiction writer Nooshin Salari as our first International Writer-in-Residence. Nooshin Salari was born in Tabriz, Iran. She immigrated to Canada in 1992 and attended the University of Saskatchewan where obtained her degree in Pharmacy. Salari began writing short stories as a teenager in Tehran, Iran. Her first story, "School Library", appeared in 1980 in Negeen magazine. Since then, her stories have appeared in different literary magazines in Iran including The World of Words and in various volumes of the Anthology of Short Stories by Iranian and World Writers (selected by Safdar Taghizadeh), as well as a collection of short stories by contemporary Iranian female writers called At the Threshold of a Cold Season (selected by Toraj Rahnama and Susan Gaveri).

February 20, 2006

As of September 2006, linguistics and psychology, two disciplines from the opposite sides of campus that both seek to understand the human mind and experience, will come together to form McMaster's newest interdisciplinary program: Linguistic Cognitive Science. Housed in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, the program will combine courses and concepts from both humanities and science, exposing students to a broad range of knowledge and practical skills through distinctive areas of concentration.

February 20, 2006

After a long meeting, Tuesday, Feb. 14, hall and programming representatives of the McMaster Inter-Residence Council elected the remainder of its executive for the upcoming 2006/07 year. After the ballots had been cast and counted, the results were announced.

February 17, 2006

More than 140 young women in grades 10, 11 and 12 will be traveling to McMaster University from 49 Ontario high schools on Saturday, Feb.18, to learn about careers in engineering. The fourth annual Women in Engineering Experience is a full day event featuring guest speakers, discussions with engineering students and alumni, lab tours, the popular Fireball Show, and an engineering design competition with members of the winning team each receiving a $1,000 entrance scholarship to the engineering program at McMaster.

February 17, 2006

The third-place Guelph Gryphons and second-place McMaster Marauders hook up for an OUA West semi-final matchup this Saturday at Burridge Gym in Hamilton at 7 p.m. The other semi-final pits the fifth-seeded Laurier Golden Hawks against the top-ranked Brock Badgers. McMaster has won both games against the Gryphons this season, however, both contests have been tough, physical games that could have gone either way.

February 17, 2006

The appointment of McMaster nursing professor Alba DiCenso as the CHSRI/CIHR Chair in Advance Practice Nursing has been renewed by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for the final six years of her 10 year term. Her work, related to education, mentoring, research, and communications, has included evaluation of nurse practitioner roles and intervention and the management of nursing services; a proposal to improve access to high quality health care for Canadians with common chronic diseases through the integration of advance practice nurses in specialized roles; and the provision of bursaries to graduate students.

February 17, 2006

Viv Nelles, McMaster's L.R. Wilson Professor of Canadian History, is hoping to reinvigorate public debate over the future of Ontario's electrical system. In his inaugural lecture Thursday Feb.16, Nelles told his audience that when he passes Hamilton Cemetery on York Boulevard, he hears voices; early twentieth-century community leaders engaged in a lively and constructive political debate over the power question. Now, in the early twenty-first century, the people of Ontario once more need to engage in a vigorous debate over the future of electricity. The conclusion to be drawn from the lecture: important and complex issues are for elections.

February 17, 2006

Stories of the AIDS crisis and high mortality rates in Africa seem almost commonplace. But for two third-year McMaster midwifery students, these stories spark a passion in their hearts. On March 5, Rhea Wilson and Catherine Goudy will embark on what they expect will be an enlightening and life-changing trip to Zambia, a landlocked country in southern Africa. As one of three compulsory community placements this year, this trip will fulfill the elective requirement and supplement the midwifery curriculum.

February 17, 2006

The men, taxi drivers who had immigrated to Hamilton from India, were looking for help. Their bosses were discriminating against them, giving them less valuable fares and calling them racist names. They came to Harish Jain who taught and studied human rights, human resources and labour relations at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. Together the drivers and Jain called the owner of the taxi company. Jain still remembers standing in his office listening to the woman as she talked to her employees. "Hearing that woman on the phone - the way she spoke to these men. That's what made me a community activist," says Jain. Today, 20 years later, Jain was recognized for his work with racial minorities and immigrants when he was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada.

February 16, 2006

There was confusion this morning for many people at McMaster about whether the University was open or not. Under the Snow Closure Policy the University closes if the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board closes its schools. However, today the University decided to stay open. "The School Board made a decision to close based on criteria that are important for its students and staff," said McMaster president, Peter George. "However, we deal with different issues at the University. For example, this week our students are writing mid-terms, and in view of the improving weather forecast, we decided that closing would be too disruptive to our students. We made the right decision to keep the University open but the confusion highlights the need for us to change our Snow Closure Policy so we are not tied to decisions that don't necessarily reflect the University's needs."

February 15, 2006

The McMaster flags remain at half-mast today in memory of Heather Watson. The second year Arts & Science student was killed Monday evening in a traffic accident on Cootes Drive. The 19-year old Oakville woman will be remembered fondly as having a strong love of music and animals.

February 15, 2006

McMaster is one of only six Ontario universities selected by the Council of Ontario Universities to receive an endowment from the provincial government to fund a research chair position in public policy. McMaster's application for Ontario Research Chair in Educational Policy and At Risk Students was one of eight proposals selected from among 37 submissions by 14 other universities.

February 15, 2006

Graduates of the DeGroote School of Business' innovative Health Services Management MBA will gather together along with faculty, students and healthcare leaders to discuss private sector involvement in Ontario healthcare this Thursday evening at the second annual HSM dinner. Special guests Kevin Smith, president and CEO, St. Joseph's Healthcare, Peter Brenders, president and CEO, BIOTECanada and Chris Ward, former government house leader, minister of education and parliamentary assistant for health, will bring a variety of perspectives from both sides of the debate.

February 14, 2006

Location, location, location. The old real estate adage takes on a new meaning when it comes to Bruce Newbold's research. Newbold, an associate professor of geography and the director of McMaster's Institute for Environment and Health, has plenty to say about the importance of location, but his take on the neighbourhoods we live in might surprise you. In tonight's (Feb.14) free Science in the City public lecture, "Healthy Hamilton? Checking up on the City's Health", Newbold discusses the research that reveals the neighbourhood where you live plays a key role in determining how healthy you are.

February 14, 2006

A tragic accident last night claimed the life of a McMaster student. Heather Watson was struck on Coote's Drive by a city of Hamilton plow/salt truck just before 6:30 Monday evening. The 19 year-old woman was a second-year student in the Arts & Science Program. Police are continuing their investigation.

February 14, 2006

Two McMaster graduate students in chemical engineering took top honours from the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PAPTAC) at their annual meeting on Feb. 9. Lucy Ye won the first place Bolker prize for her presentation and the Karnis award for best poster, while Chuanwei Miao won second place for his presentation. Yaling Xu, received the Journal of Pulp Paper Science Award for his paper, "A New Look at How Fines Influence The Strength of Filled Papers". Both PhD students work with professor Robert Pelton in chemical engineering. Xu now works for the Nalco Chemical Company in China.